After surviving an especially long winter and spring, I feel everyone can finally rejoice and welcome the summer months. The end of the school year is absolutely a favorite time of year for kids and teachers and parents. Everyone’s worked so hard all year long, this long awaited break is certainly deserved. For some summer vacation is a stressful time of shuffling kids to and from camps, family member’s homes, finding babysitters etc. For others it means finding ways to keep kids satisfied throughout the summer days. Whatever your summer entails, however much time you have to fill with your kiddos, here are some suggestions and musts for this summer season.

• Strawberry Picking: Kick off your summer holidays by picking strawberries. Here in Shawville, Picard’s is open early. Gather up the kiddos and pick strawberries. We love to eat and freeze our berries, but you could find super easy recipes for freezer jam, muffins, crisps or cakes and turn that into a fun experience for the whole family. Blueberry season happens in late July and there are lots of berry patches on Calumet Island. It’s a different experience as the berries are wild and you definitely need to be more patient while picking little berries. But, the reward is still the same, returning home with fresh picked berries that you can freeze for colder months, or gobble up right away. Huglis’ blueberry farm in Pembroke has a fun picking experience in late July as well.
• Adventures: Go hiking/biking/walking on the PPJ trail or on a trail somewhere near your home. We love to find little areas to investigate near our house. You can make simple scavenger hunts and new things to find or search for each time you go. Make sure to dress properly if going exploring in long grass and to check kids and adults afterwards for ticks. This past fall we checked out the Luskville Falls, if you haven’t done this, we recommend hidden gem that we absolutely loved visiting.
• Check out the local parks in the Pontiac. There are quite a few around us, because kids don’t visit them all regularly, a new park can add some excitement to a simple outing. Pack up some simple sand toys to bring along with you. Our favourite things to bring are old Tupperware dishes and muffin tins. The kids turn the sand box into restaurants and stores all the time.
• Swimming/staying wet: Check out the splash pads in the Pontiac, there is one in Litchfield, Mansfield, Campbell’s Bay, Otter Lake, Quyon and Shawville. We are also lucky to have many beaches nearby. Sand Bay, Norway Bay, Leslie Lake, Logos Land are all areas we can visit with our kiddos. Make a list at the beginning of the summer and cross off each one you get to visit. Remember to review the rules of the beach before letting them explore. Have life preserves clicked onto children who are not able to swim independently and make clear rules about how far they can go out in the water before it gets deep. Some rivers and lakes drop off quickly while others are really great for wading in, know your areas. If you want to avoid large bodies of water and keep cool in the yard, water tables are a must have. We have had ours for six years and it’s still loved. They can be found at most stores that carry children’s toys. You can do so much with water tables, add soap and let them wash babies or animals or cars. Add kitchen measuring cups, bowls, spoons and let them cook for you. Let them experiment with funnels, and strainers…the list goes on and on.
• Pool noodle fun: Pool noodles are usually in stock everywhere in the summer and not very expensive. Cut different coloured noodles into one-inch, two-inch and three-inch blocks. These make perfect blocks, we’ve used them in plastic pools for little kids, we’ve put pieces of rope in the pool so that we could make necklaces with the pieces, and we’ve used them as blocks to build castles and towns. They’re super fun all year long but easiest to make in the summer when they’re readily available.
• Go camping: camp in the backyard, at Mill Dam Park, or a campground. If you’re not set up with equipment to actually go camping for a weekend but can find/borrow a tent, set one up in the backyard for one sleepover night. Kids would definitely remember the experience of camping in the backyard especially if they’ve never done it before.
• Create a scavenger hunt: Come up with some questions about places in your town, there are lots of great scavenger hunt ideas on pinterest, and send the kids on the hunt. You will most likely have to accompany them but this could make for a super fun day out in town. If your kids are old enough they may even get to do this by bike.
• Make a Wish List with the kiddos at the start of the summer, of places each member of the family would like to visit throughout the summer, and then try and make it happen. You can research together what’s happening around town, the Pontiac, and in the city.

There are tons of great activities to keep kids happy this summer, all of them easily found on the internet. Keep some categories in mind, science experiments, art projects, writing projects, a movie extravaganza, movie day, or drive-in experience.

Choose a new sport to practice/learn or try.

Even though it’s summer, keep up the reading. Work in some reading time with your child each day, it may be the prerequisite to leaving the house, you have to do 20 mins of reading before we can leave or it may occur right before bed, at quiet time in the afternoon, whenever it’s possible work it in. This will keep our young readers experienced and help them transition back into school when it sneaks up on us again in August.

We hope this list has helped inspire an idea or two for your upcoming summer. Enjoy the schedule free time you do get with your kiddos this summer.